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‘White Boy Rick’ Wershe Jr. to return to Metro Detroit after release

Wershe will return to Michigan, but not Detroit, attorney says

DETROIT – According his attorney, Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe Jr. will be returning to Metro Detroit -- the place where Wershe said he got caught up, set up and taken down.

“I am not White Boy Rick,” Wershe said. “I am Rick. I am not the person I am made out to be.”

Complete Coverage: White Boy Rick

Wershe was nailed with a life sentence for drug dealing when he was just 17. He freed from that sentence in June 2017 and has been doing time in Florida for his role in a stolen car scheme.

Wershe was release Monday. After nearly 30 years away, his family can barely contain themselves knowing he’s finally coming home.

“He’s anxious to get home,” said Wershe’s attorney, Ralph Musilli. “His head is in a good place. He has a good support group here and he is finally ready get back into the real world.”

Musilli made it clear that Wershe is returning to Metro Detroit, but not to Detroit. When Wershe was in eighth grade, he helped lead the feds to corrupt police in the city.

Read more: How ‘White Boy Rick’ became an informant, drug dealer in Detroit

John Anthony was with the FBI at the time. He said he’d like to thank Wershe.

“I would shake his hand and buy him coffee,” Anthony said. “He did a great service of ferreting out corruption in the Detroit Police Department.”

Related: The story of ‘White Boy Rick’ enters new chapter -- he’s out of prison Monday

Musilli described how he expects Monday’s release to go.

“Friends are going to be there. I don’t anticipate a lot of people,” Musilli said. “It will be quiet. Get on his way.”

Musilli said Wershe, 51, expects to have a job and has plenty of living to do quietly.


About the Authors
Shawn Ley headshot

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

Dane Kelly headshot

Dane is a producer and media enthusiast. He previously worked freelance video production and writing jobs in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts. Dane graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

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